Existing video streaming applications attempt to provide end users with consistent high quality video streaming. In the presence of network bandwidth variations, this becomes more challenging. Applications that implement multiple bit-rates (MBR) video streaming strive to provide such high quality services by encoding a same video source multiple times at different respective bit-rates. During video streaming operations, an MBR video streaming server or receiver dynamically selects and switches to the bitstream encoded at the proper bit rate in view of current network data throughput conditions to accommodate for bandwidth variations. However, if the bitstreams are switched at an inter-coded P-frame, the switching operations generally introduce drift errors into the resulting video stream, causing reduced video quality. If intra-coded bitstreams are used to switch from one bitstream to another coding efficiency is typically adversely effected (the more intra-coded frames, the less coding efficiency).
To provide “drift(error)-less” bitstream switching, existing MBR video streaming applications may replace original frames of the non-encoded media content with predefined switching frames (e.g. the SP frames in H.264) during encoding operations. Then, based on network bandwidth conditions, the server switches bitstreams at one of these predefined inserted frames. However, replacing normally coded frames (i.e. the inter-coded P-frames) with specially designed switching frames lowers coding efficiency. Moreover, such switching frame replacement operations require data exchange from respective ones of the multiple bitstreams. Thus, in an MBR streaming environment that replaces original frames with predefined switching frames, bitstreams cannot be encoded independent of one or more different bitstreams. Rather, each bitstream is jointly encoded with at least one different bitstream. This increases complexity of the encoding operations. Furthermore, systems that replace normal frames with special switching frames typically fail responsive to transmission errors between the streaming server and receiving device.